Hello, and a question about lacquering a maple neck

[Stuart Morrow]

Hello all. I've been lurking here for a while, but never signed up. You guys really are a well of information.

I have a question regarding finishing a maple neck. I've lacquered a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard before, and that was no problem, since the rosewood part was taped off the whole time.

However, how would I go about finishing/refinishing a maple neck with a maple fretboard? The frets are already on it. Do I just lacquer over the frets and then scrape off the lacquer once it's nicely dried?

Also, if the neck in its current state were a little grubby, would you have any recommendations regarding prepping it before lacquering it?

Thanks a lot for any and all information.

Cheers,
Stu

[Mike Kolb]

A lot of the manufacturers did that all the time: finish the neck with the frets installed, and let nature take her course! The thin lacquer on the tops of the frets will disappear "as needed" during the course of the first few minutes of playing. It's also got the benefit of sealing the fret edges where they lay along the wood. Of course, it doesn't hurt to tape-off the board afterwards and polish the frets.... it only hastens the inevitable.

In fact, when Fender used to glop-on that gawdawful thick clear poly, it made doing refret jobs doubly difficult because the removal of the old frets would drag hunks of poly off the fretboard unless the sides of the frets were carefully scored first and heated to soften the finish alongside.... and there were still no guarantees that it would leave the finish intact.

As far as being "a little grubby", remember that whatever is under the finish will show through. Now's the time to get it clean and pristine before sealing it up for posterity.

[Donald A. Fortune]

Hi Stu-- I go along with what Mike posted, however if you wish to leave the fret board with a vintage look then just place neck on a flat surface, with the fret board down and cut the lacquer 50-50 with thinner and put light coats on it till the desired effect is reached. (this method is for spraying the lacquer, and doesn't cover brush on lacquer)
Hope you get the desired look and finished product that you want....
Peace,
Donald

[Russell Vance]

We do a lot of neck refurbs - usually post refret and we specialise in CBS poly restorations. Getting it right is time consuming and somewhat difficult. Firstly, any conehead can spray over an existing finish but unfortunately, especially with necks which tend to be dirty and cracked this is a temporary fix which seals in the dirt and contamination and lacquer cracking and separation are common.

CBS poly necks are generally in a state of delamination (the poly finish separating from the maple) and the lacquer often comes off in sheets once a crack is exposed. Strip and total refinish (with the exception of the peghead face and heel ID details), especially after refretting, is our schedule there unless the neck is pristine. Alot of CBS necks have the frets put in sideways and pulling them in the normal fashion is a disaster. The figerboard dots are also a different size than standard and sometimes they disappear when refurbing the fingerboard surface/radius (Stewmac have the oversized dots).

Later Fender maple necks crack and get dirty around the fingerboard/neck contour edge and once sweat and grime are injested in these cracks you have a job on your hands to clean and refinish this area. Older necks which are compromised in this area can be stripped and the grey grime can be removed with diluted oxalic acid. Sanding out this discoloration runs the risk of downsizing the neck dimension (and a lot of vintage Fender necks are already too narrow due to the bridge spacing anyway) and changing the feel of the neck.

Trad Fender finishing lacquers straight over the frets and the covering over the crown is removed badly while still soft - often manifested by a dirty jagged lacquer edge half way down the side of the fret. We remove this lacquer with a fret shield and steel wool initially, then use a series of micromesh sticks with a fret shield to fully feather the lacquer edge and give it a tidy look that won't trap dirt and grime as much. It's time consuming and not much fun.

For thick poly finishes we use a high crown fret 55 thou high X 84 thou wide (stewmac) which is just slightly wider than a standard fret and hides the old edge line but a lot higher so you can spray a thick authentic lacquer finish (technically correct for this neck) without the frets disappearing under the surface.

For normal nitro we prespray the neck with a sanding sealer coat and follow with a couple of build coats applying shader to match the original peghead shade at this stage. Do not directly dye the neck with stain - it looks dreadful and mottled. Not much lacquer goes into the slots surprisingly and it gets get a bit of a build going. The neck is fretted (after the neck back lacquer has gone off and been fine sanded) and then we apply finish over the frets and neck back/peghead in one operation to get an nice encapsulated finish.

Applying shader coats over the frets is bad,- when the lacquer is stripped from the fret crowns the lacquer line is very evident and very ugly - but, hey, Fender do it on their vintage models and don't care about the look. Do not polish the exposed frets on a buff - it send the lacquer line black and you can't get the discoloration out without a great deal of work. Use micro mesh sticks and a fret shield. That a bit of what we know, hope it helps.

[Stuart Morrow]

Thanks very much for your replies, gentlemen. Very informative indeed.

The neck in question is a Telecaster replacement, and it's been very lightly lacquered. I thought it would be good enough to play on in its current state, but even though it's new, it's picking up dirt quick and I think it needs a little more protection.

Thanks for the info regarding giving it an aged look, too. That's something I would also like to investigate.